THEORETICAL AND EMPIRICAL

SUPPORT
DIGITAL LEARNING ENVIRONMENT
EMPIRICAL RESEARCH

INDIVUIDUAL DIFFERENCES EXIST IN HOW STUDENTS LEARN

WHAT STUDENTS LEARN AND HOW THEY LEARN
RESEARCH HAS PROVED THAT THE MORE ACTIVELY INVOLVED STUDENTS ARE WITH THEIR
LEARNING, THE ARE POSITIVELY RELATED TO LEARNING OUTCOMES
This includes:
Setting meaningful goals
Selecting appropriate and task-specific strategies
Monitoring motivational levels
Adapting based on feedback
Self-Regulated Learning (SRL) theory

Constructivism: students actively construct knowledge in an idiosyncratic process

Certain individual cognitive characteristics affect how students learn
Prior domain knowledge
Motivational levels
Developmental constraints
SRL Theory overview

Four common assumptions regarding how students can self-regulate their learning
1. Assumed that students can potentially monitor and regulate their cognition, behavior, and
motivation
dependent on a number of factors including individual differences and developmental constraints

2. Students actively construct their own, idiosyncratic goals and meaning derived from both the
learning context and their prior knowledge
1. Students engage in constructive process of learning

3. Student behavior is goal-directed and the process of self-regulation includings modifying

behavior to achieve goals
4. Self-regulatory behavior mediates the relationship between a students performance, contextual
factors, and individual characteristics
Phases of self-regulation

1. Forethought
2. Performance control
3. Self-reflection
Forethought

sets the stage for the upcoming learning task

Realistic expectations
Create goals with specific outcomes
Identify plans to maximize success in the particular learning task
Where is the best place for me to complete the work?
What conditions will create challenges for me?
How will I start?
Performance Control

Processes that are involved during learning

Self-talk
Self-monitoring
Am I following my plan correctly?
Am I being distracted?
What strategies can I use to help me keep working?
Self-reflection

Reflect at the conclusion of the learning activity

Compares the performance outcome to goal(s)
Did I meet all of the goals?
Which conditions helped me be successful and what conditions distracted them?
Which strategies were effective given the context and learning activity?
 Pintrichs model of self-regulation

Planning
Plans
Set goals
Activates knowledge about the context, text, and self

Monitoring
Metacognitive awareness
Monitoring of cognition

Control
Student selects cognitive strategies and regulates different aspects of the context, task, and self.

Reflection
Students make cognitive judgments and reflections on the context, task, and self
Three areas of self-regulation

Cognition
Motivation/affect
Behavior
Task characteristics which can impede or facilitate an attempt to self-regulate their learning
 Phases of SRL according to Information
Processing Theory (IPT)

Understanding the task

Student constructs a perception of the task from information in the learning context (Task Conditions)
Students construct information from prior experience and knowledge (Cognitive Conditions)
Goal-setting and planning how to reach the goal(s)
student develops goals and plans
Enacting strategies
Students select and use tactics and/or strategies
metacognitively adapting to studying
Monitoring activities and making cognitive evaluations about discrepancies between goal(s) and
current domain knowledge.
Social cognitive approach

Environmental factors have a bidirectional interaction with students personal and

behavioral characteristics.
Interaction with the context results in cyclical development and adaptation of students
SRL
SRL in the classroom

Teachers need to foster self-reflection by prompting questions

Did you meet all of the goals of the learning task?
Which strategies were effective for this particular learning task ?
Information processed in one phase can become an input to the next phase for processing the
context learned.
Teachers need to support metacognitive monitoring
SRL being used by teachers

Just as we expect students to use SRL in the classroom, teachers should also use it in order
to deeply reflect on their own teaching practices
This can lead to increase student performance
The curriculum is ever-changing which requires innovation and adaptability
Teachers who self-regulate are better able to meet the demands of their daily job because they
have a balance of their professional demands, engage in reflective thinking, and embrace
adaptation.
Teachers who are incapable of self-regulating their own learning and/or do not hold personal
beliefs that students can engage in SRL are less likely to support the development of these
capabilities in the classroom.
Supporting SRL: What literature says

Researchers concluded that individual differencesin how university teachers engage in SRL are
a product of educational development experiences
Workshops on teaching, activate solicitation of student feedback
Adaptation of teaching practices
Previous experiences and personal beliefs of university teachers also affect the extent to which they
engage in SRL
All of these positively affect SRL of university teachers
Changes in experienced teachers self-regulatory behavior are related to their experimentation
with new teaching methods and active reflection on the effectiveness of a variety of teaching
methods
Teachers of different age groups support SRL in the classroom
University and college classrooms tend to focus on their content while secondary teachers offer more
opportunites for students to engage in SRL
Practical implications

The ability of students to actively engage with learning material such as setting goals,
accurately monitoring their emerging understanding, and adapting the use of strategies
are critical components that should be more centralized in education
Even though these phases are important to the self-regulatory process, the studies suggest
that instruction of SRL is often rare
Occurrence of embedded instruction of cognitive strategies was rare in high school classrooms.
We fist need to have effective training, professional development , and/or scaffolding
Changes in teachers support of SRL is related to their willingness to experiment with new teaching methods
and active reflection on the effectiveness of various teaching methods.
Many teaching methods are also associated with personal beliefs
Example: if a teacher has a nave personal epistemology and believes that knowledge is abslute, they may
resort to informative instruction which does not support SRL.
Implementation of SRL

Requires careful consideration of students needs and abilities

Students who already have the capacity to use cognitive strategies may have adverse reactions
to explicit instruction with these SRL processes
SRL instruction requires consideration of students individual differences with their self-regulation
ability.